"Tim Nunes" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
>I have never had my hands go numb for 2 months, but my fingers do get
> numb temporarily on rides that are a little under 2 hours. What is
> this caused by?
Is it just your pinkie, ring and maybe middle fingers? If so, it could be
ulnar nerve neuropathy, popularly called "handlebar palsy". I started to
have problems with this two years ago when training for a double century.
After talking to my doctor, and reading about it (put ulnar nerve or
handlebar palsy in a search engine) and working to counteract it, here's
what I recommend:
o Make sure you have your wrists positioned properly: you always want your
wrists straight and your elbows bent. (When I did water aerobics we called
this "Barbie arms" after the 11.5 inch fashion doll -- you want to have a
loose feeling in your arms, not a stiff one.) Especially check yourself when
you're riding with your hands on the tops of your drop bars. It's especially
important to have this sort of loose feeling in your arms when riding over
bumps -- I know this from riding on the road and going over potholes.
o Make sure your bike fits well. Typical fit problems that can lead you to
lean on your hands with the wrists bent include: pointing the nose of your
saddle down too much, having the seat too high, or having too long of a
stem.
o Make sure you have lots of gel in your gloves. Every time I've used a bad
set of gloves for a while the numbness returns.
o Change your hand position frequently. Aerobars could help with this I
suppose, but just changing from being in the drops, tops, and hoods help.
See:
http://www.cptips.com/handsyn.htm for a description of this problem;
http://www.cultv.com/music/rssi.htm shows stretches to combat the problem
(from a guitarist's viewpoint, but still relevant);
http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_15_3_2.htm shows how the problem develops from
improper hand positioning on the bike.
--
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
Personal page:
http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky